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Sunday, September 18, 2011

Teaching the 10 Commandments with Hand Motions

I'm one of three Sunday School teachers at our church. Because our church is so small, we teach using a "one room schoolhouse" format --- the kids are all in one room being taught the same material regardless of age. The youngest in the room is Tom Thumb and the oldest is in 5th grade. This proves to be challenging at times, but most of the time the older children step up to assist the teacher and the younger children.

Over the next couple of months leading up to Advent, we are teaching a segment on the ten commandments. We'll be covering one commandment per week. Since I was up to teach on week one, I offered to make a learning aid for the kids. I made the typical looking tablets and printed out the commandments individually so the kids could tape them up each week.

The number one thing I wanted to find for week one, however, was a good hand motion mnemonic to help them remember the commandments. If you search online for "ten commandments hand motions", you will find a million You Tube videos and other links on how to do it. I liked a lot of what I saw, but my problem was I liked #6 from video A and #4 from video B and #3 from video C and so on. Not to mention, the motions on some of these videos were completely nonsensical and sometimes inappropriate. There was even one for commandment #5 where you made a spanking motion on the word "mother" and the pastor mentioned in his teaching that "this may not be politically correct, but..." What?!?! In the end, I made up my own instructions for me, the kids, and the other teachers with all the motions that I thought made the most sense and would be easiest for the kids to learn.

So for your commandment teaching pleasure (ha ha!), I present the Fairy Tale Mama version of the 10 Commandment Hand Motions:

Commandment 1:

You shall have no other gods before Me.

(Hold up one finger, like a big #1)

Commandment 2:

You shall not make any idols to bow down to and worship.

(Hold up your index and middle fingers together and make them “bow” up and down.)

Commandment 3:

You shall not take the name of the LORD in vain.

(Hold three fingers up to your lips, instead of the usual one finger, and say, “SHHH.”)

Commandment 4:

Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.

(Hold up your index and middle fingers on each hand, joined together like a steeple. Then, rest your cheek on your right hand like you're sleeping. This is to represent going to church and then using the Sabbath as a day of rest.)

Commandment 5:

Honor your father and mother.

(Have child put 5 fingers of right hand to their temple in a military salute.)

Commandment 6:

You shall not murder.

(Hold up six fingers, pointing one finger like a gun into the palm of the other five.)

Commandment 7:

You shall not commit adultery.

(Hold out your left hand palm up and have your index and your middle finger of your right hand walk on the palm, like a bride and groom walking down the aisle.)

Commandment 8:

You shall not steal.

(Hold up five fingers on your right hand and three on your left.Have your right hand grab the three fingers on your left.)

Commandment 9:

You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

(Hold up nine fingers. Then, cover your mouth with one hand after the other. No lying! God always wants us to tell the truth!)

Commandment 10:

You shall not covet.

(Hold up ten fingers and pretend to “grab” in front on you as if saying, “Gimme! I want it!” )

Is there a special way you have learned to teach the 10 Commandments? Any related games or crafts you've done? If so, please share! We have 9 more weeks to go!

About Me

Welcome to the Enchanted Schoolhouse. The Cobbler (his fave fairy tale is the Elves and the Shoemaker) is my fabulous husband, Little Red Ridinghood (AKA Red) is our 8 year old daughter, and Tom Thumb is our 6 year old son. The 2014-2015 school year will be our first year homeschooling. We're all avid readers so I blog about what we're reading (kids and adults alike), what we're learning, what projects we're working on, and our quest to improve our lives and hopefully those around us too. Our educational approach draws primarily from the philosophies of Charlotte Mason and classical education with a smidge of Waldorf thrown in. My #1 goal with the kids is to read lots of great books and play, play, PLAY! Get yourself a cup of tea and stay a spell... Links in this blog for books are directed to Amazon via my Amazon Associates account. I receive a tiny percentage of any sales that result which I use to buy more books. And who doesn't want more books? :-)